New York City is one of the most unique and popular travel destinations in the world, bursting with historic landmarks, vibrant street scenes, cultural delights, and world-famous icons. If you plan on documenting your trip through pictures, then this is your guide to making the most of your photography in New York City. You'll learn where to find the most interesting views, when to shoot them, and how to recreate the images you see in these pages. All the research, location scouting, and planning have been done for you so you can spend your time in New York City taking stunning photographs. Equal parts photo essay and how-to, "The 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in New York City" is meant to complement your traditional city guidebook and show you how to capture the memories of your trip with professional-quality images. Also check out the brand new companion website for our "The 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities" series!

Having issued a handful of excellent Afro-rock albums on small independent labels in the last few years, which have attracted attention within the world music community, Amadou and Miriam are poised to break out with Dimanche A Bamako, arguably the best album of a career that goes back 30 years. Produced by mischievous French/Spanish pop star Manu Chao (who even co-wrote and sings on a few tunes), the album fuses the couple's dynamic grooves with the producer's signature everything-and-the-kitchen sink backgrounds. This is truly a collaboration of like-minded individuals: Chao's own rabid multi-culti mix of styles enhances the blind couple's guitar-driven mix of blues-rock and African percussion, as well as Latin, dance and reggae grooves. Highlights include the impossibly catchy Senegal Fast Food and the percolating Coulibaly, while the couple's political bent comes out on Politic Amagni. Truly an album with a global perspective, there is something for everyone here, and rather than diluting the stew, it makes it all the more tasty.

The story of Folila the word means music in Bambara boasts three distinct chapters, and is a tale of how two records became one. Marc-Antoine Moreau, the duo's long-time manager and producer explains: "The original idea was to make two albums: One was going to be a crossover record made in New York City, where Amadou & Mariam have many musical friends and relationships; and the other was to be a more rootsy album recorded in Bamako with mostly African guests and African percussion instead of a drum kit." Both plans came to fruition, but when Amadou & Mariam listened back to the richness of the two sessions, a third way suggested itself: to combine the two recordings in a seamless, organic fashion.

New York City is one of the most unique and popular travel destinations in the world, bursting with historic landmarks, vibrant street scenes, cultural delights, and world-famous icons. If you plan on documenting your trip through pictures, then this is your guide to making the most of your photography in New York City.